Tuesday, October 30, 2012

With the calendar flipping from October to November, it can only mean one thing: basketball season is upon us. One of the most common sights around Crisler Center for the past few years has been construction equipment and fences. Most of that will change this week when the men's and women's basketball teams host exhibition contests, giving fans their first chance to see the new Crisler Center.

The original plan for the $52 million Phase II renovation of Crisler Center was for the construction to take about 20 months. The majority of the work was just completed this week, taking approximately 10 total months.

"This was supposed to be a two-year project, but we knew we needed to get it done faster," associate athletic director Rob Rademacher said. "We looked at creative ways to compress the construction schedule so we would impact the fan experience less. We worked double shifts, worked six days a week and just found a way to get as much done as we could to open the facility for the start of basketball season."

This portion of the Crisler Center renovation project added approximately 63,000 gross square feet, allowing for new fan entrances, expanded and renovated concourses, new restrooms and concession areas, fan interactive areas, additional retail spaces and ticketing areas, as well as a private club space.

With the hastened construction schedule, however, fans will notice that not everything inside the facility is completed. The club, along with its attached concessions, will not be completed until Jan. 1. Digital content in the new digital touch screens may not be completed, along with some fixed graphics around the concourse and the KidZone. Some areas of the concourse will still be under construction, including portions of the northeast lobby.

"There would have been many more construction barriers if we had not gone this route," project manager Steve Donoghuesaid about the decision to speed up the construction process. "We have been able to get rid of most of the fencing outside the facility, freeing up about 125 parking spots that had been previously used by construction equipment.

"The only thing that our remaining construction is limiting the fans from is that they cannot use the club, and there are two concession areas that are not completed. Everything else, to the fan, will be completely usable."

Even though the whole project is not quite done, fans will still be blown away by the "new" Crisler Center and what it has to offer.

"This puts us at the top of any collegiate facility," Rademacher said. "It is one thing to see a rendering or drawing of a facility and think it is going to be awesome. It is another thing to actually see it. When our fans come in and see it for the first time, I think their reaction is going to be 'wow.' That is the reaction we were hoping for."

Perhaps the most noticeable and amazing change is the new grand entrance, located on the northeast corner of the complex. A two-story water feature adorns the lobby, along with an escalator to take fans up to the concourse level. The lobby provides space for the fans to come inside, purchase or pick up tickets, away from the elements of a Michigan winter.

The Maize Rage, Michigan's student section, will enter through a new gate on the northwest corner, adjacent to the Mortenson Plaza. The entrance, true to its name, is completely maize from floor to ceiling.

As fans make their way up to the concourse, the changes will continue to be evident. The concourse was widened, allowing for an easier traffic flow of fans before, during and after games. Natural light is now allowed into the facility by windows located throughout the concourse. New concession stands and restrooms will allow for less congestion in the concourse, once again helping traffic flow.

Featured throughout the concourse floor are the lyrics to Michigan's iconic fight song, "The Victors."

Gone are the showcases that represented all of Michigan's 29 varsity sports, as they have been replaced by digital touch screen displays and 'Super Graphics.' These will tell the story of each of sport, allowing fans the opportunity to learn more about what Michigan Athletics is all about.

"It is a tribute to Michigan Athletics throughout, not just basketball," Donoghue said. "That is apparent from day one. This is not just a basketball venue; this is where we can showcase the rich history and tradition of all Michigan sports."

Two M-Den locations, one in the southwest corner and one in the new lobby in the northeast corner, will provide fans the opportunity to purchase official Michigan apparel on game days. The M-Den in the southwest corner has been open during football games this season.

A rooftop plaza was added on top of the William Davidson Player Development Center, providing a place for tailgating during U-M football games. Michigan's Hall of Honor recipients will also be honored in Crisler, even though that part of the project will not be completed until the New Year.

A KidZone, located on the southeast side of the building, will also be completed on Jan. 1. Kids will be able to see how they size up to current Wolverines, in addition to be able to play games in the area.

Phase I of the Crisler Center project, which was completed in time for last season, primarily addressed infrastructure needs such as repair of the roof, electrical, plumbing and air handling systems. It included the complete renovation of Crisler Center's interior bowl, which included new HD scoreboards, new seating for the entire arena, including club seating, expanded seating for people with disabilities, the addition of hand rails and the construction of loge box seating, as well as the newly added Wolverine Den.

Construction began at Crisler Center in May 2010, starting with the building of the William Davidson Player Development Center. The 55,000-square-foot facility gives Michigan men's and women's basketball teams a place to call home, featuring coaches' offices, film rooms, locker rooms, training room, two practice floors, player lounges, equipment room, theaters, hydrotherapy pools and weight room.

"One of our guiding principles is that 'We Provide WOW Experiences for our Student-Athletes, Fans and Team Members," Rademacher said. "I think we have accomplished that in this project and fans should come out this year to experience it. You have to see the transformation for yourself to believe it."

Megan had asked me if I would be willing to do a brief interview for their blog and be one of their featured runners. OF COURSE I SAID YES! I mean, I just recently started running (within the last year) and know I am not 'the best', but have really come to enjoy it and spreading the word about how amazing it can be.

We’ve got big news to share with you today regarding the expanded schedule for the 2012 Disneyland Candlelight Ceremony and Processional. As we first told you in August, Candlelight is being extended to a total of 20 nights at Disneyland park this year, for the first time in its history, with two performances each night. Below is the list of currently scheduled narrators for shows from December 1-20:

Ryan and I ran in a fun race this past weekend. It was an Awesome 80s 5K. Honestly, we had signed up because the finisher medals were SOOOOO cool, but don't worry, we had a blast along the way. The night before the race we had to go pick out our outfits. We went over to Target and Ryan found a 'YOLO' shirt (he had been saying it while we were in Hawaii, so it was extra perfect for him) and I just grabbed a plain black shirt that I cut up "80s style".

The morning didn't start off too great - I had some 'stomach issues', we hit a piece of metal on the expressway and then my 'low tire pressure light came on (assuming it was a flat tire - which we found out after the race was not - just a coincidence that my tires were low and that we hit something while driving), the parking was about a mile from the race, etc - but once we made it to the starting line we were all good.

I decided that I wasn't going to run this race for time. After the last 5K that Ryan and I ran together and I didn't finish with him, I decided, if he is going to make the effort to come and run with me, then I am going to make the effort to finish with him.

I was so proud of him. He ran the whole thing and even beat his time from the last 5K we ran together. And yes, we got our AWESOME medals!

And we are excited for our next race, which is this upcoming Saturday - The Color Run. I will definitely post some pictures from that one as well, I just need to figure out how to protect my phone/ camera so that it doesn't get pelted with all of the 'color'.

Justin Verlander took a shutout into the ninth inning and the Detroit Tigers held on to beat the New York Yankees 2-1 Tuesday night for a 3-0 lead in the AL championship series. Phil Coke gave up consecutive singles with two outs in the ninth before striking out postseason star Raul Ibanez for his second save in two games. Verlander allowed only a pair of singles by Ichiro Suzuki and a leadoff homer by Eduardo Nunez in the ninth. Delmon Young hit a solo home run for the Tigers, and Miguel Cabrera had an RBI double. Yankees starter Phil Hughes was lifted in the fourth because of a stiff back, and manager Joe Girardi's lineup shuffle — Alex Rodriguez was benched again — failed to snap New York out of its untimely hitting funk. Detroit can complete a sweep and earn its second pennant in seven years Wednesday night when Max Scherzer pitches against Yankees ace CC Sabathia. The Tigers were on a historic pitching run even before their ace took the mound Tuesday. With the exception of a four-run ninth inning against Detroit closer Jose Valverde in Game 1, New York had been shut out for the entire series. Nunez's homer snapped a streak of 37 innings by Detroit starters without allowing an earned run, the longest in a single postseason in the live-ball era. Verlander fell just short of a second straight shutout after stopping the Oakland Athletics in the decisive fifth game of the division series. He struck out only three but kept New York off the scoreboard until the homer to left field by Nunez, the first run allowed by the powerful right-hander since he gave up a leadoff homer to Coco Crisp in Game 1 of the ALDS. Verlander got Brett Gardner on a tapper before he was lifted after 132 pitches, one shy of his career high set in Game 5 of last year's ALCS against Texas. Coke came in and allowed two-out hits to Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano, with the latter snapping a drought of 29 at-bats without a hit. But Ibanez, who hit tying and winning homers in the same game in the ALDS against Baltimore and tied Game 1 of this series with a homer in the ninth, struck out swinging at a breaking ball to end it. Verlander, the reigning AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner, came within three outs of becoming the first pitcher in 24 years to throw consecutive shutouts in the postseason, according to STATS LLC. Orel Hershiser did it for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988, blanking the New York Mets in Game 7 of the NL championship series and the Oakland Athletics in Game 2 of the World Series. Valverde's meltdown nearly cost Detroit the first game of this series, but the Tigers were able to win 6-4 in 12 innings. Coke closed out a 3-0 victory in Game 2 and was able to hold on Tuesday in a tense final inning. Hughes matched Verlander in a scoreless duel until Young led off the Detroit fourth with a line drive over the wall in left field. It was his seventh homer in the last two postseasons — he's already the Tigers' career leader in that department. Five of those homers — in only eight games — have come against the Yankees. Andy Dirks followed with a walk, and Hughes was pulled with an 0-2 count on Jhonny Peralta. David Phelps came on and got out of the inning, but the Yankees now have a pitching injury to go along with all their hitting problems. Hughes allowed a run and three hits in three-plus innings. He walked three and struck out one. The Yankees kept it close, dodging several Detroit rallies. The Tigers added an unearned run in the fifth when Eric Chavez — Rodriguez's replacement at third — misplayed a grounder. Cabrera, the AL Triple Crown winner, followed with an RBI double. Cabrera has a 16-game hitting streak in LCS play, breaking a tie for that record with Manny Ramirez and Pete Rose, according to STATS LLC. But Cabrera hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the sixth, preventing the Tigers from adding more runs.

2. The reason the name on the diver's goggles is P. Sherman is due to the fact that a large part of the film's crew was Filipino, and "fisherman" apparently sounds a lot like "P. Sherman" in a Filipino accent:

3. If you zoom in close enough at the dentist's office, you can read the diplomas. Here's what they say:

4. The movie originally didn't start out so sad. The death of Nemo's mother was told through flashbacks, instead. However, the animators changed this because they "wanted the viewers to understand the overprotective nature of Marlin" from the start.

13. Dory's nosebleed in the Bruce scene was the first time blood was shown in a Pixar movie:

14. Speaking of Bruce, the great white shark was named after what Steven Spielberg called the mechanical shark in "Jaws:"

15. Several times in the film, the characters say the line "all drains lead to the ocean." Since water often undergoes treatment before reaching the ocean, the JWC Environmental company joked that "a more realistic title for the movie is "Grinding Nemo."

19. "Finding Nemo" is the top selling DVD of all time:

20. Megan Mullally ("Will & Grace," 'Party Down," "Parks & Rec") originally had a part in the film, but was fired from the film after she refused to do the high pitched voice her character Karen on "Will & Grace" did.

21. Speaking of Monster's Inc, Sully's hair and Nemo's anemone were animated using the same computer program:

22. Deb's alter ego is Flo, a reference to "ebb and flow."

23. Andrew Stanton, the film's director and writer, decided to cast Ellen Degeneres after watching the "Ellen" show one day and noticing she would "change the subject five times before finishing one sentence," much like Dory.